Palm Beach Princess
I had the greatest idea for the Fourth of July, or so I thought. Decided to go on a 5 hour cruise aboard The Palm Beach Princess which is a local gambling ship. What a joke!About two weeks before the 4th I called to get a little information and was told the whole ship would be accessible. I think they need to look up the meaning of the word accessible or at least the legal definition according to the ADA. Not even close.
We were told about three times that it was accessible by three different people spoken to on the telephone. I was told once and my mother was told at least once when she called to order the tickets (her credit card).
We get on the ship and immediately look for the elevator so we can find something to eat. We find the elevator and I use the term elevator loosely. I would say the measurements of the elevator were only 3 feet by 3 feet, if that. I have a rather wide chair but the width wasn't the issue. I went into the elevator straight and the back of my chair was sticking out by about six inches.
Luckily we discovered this with about 10 minutes to spare before the ship was to leave the
port. We got off of the ship and were able to get a discount. This still didn't compensate for the wasted evening. We would have made different plans if we would have known.When we went to the front desk on the ship they were not one bit apologetic about the situation. I realized there was nothing they could do about the situation at that moment in time but their attitude was almost like oh well.
The only person who really did their job appropriately was the girl at the registration desk before you get on the ship. She was very courteous and apologetic afterwords. I need to start being more observant as to the names of people who are helpful and those who are extraordinarily unhelpful or rude. That way when I write to companies with complaints I can give credit where credit is due and lay blame where where it belongs.And this is not to mention the way things were handled getting on the ship. Every line you have to go through on the way to the ship is a zigzag which is not very easy with a wheelchair. There were a handful of people who were helpful but everyone else seemed oblivious.
When we get to the security checkpoint they guy just waves me and my father who is pushing my chair through the line. I obviously couldn't fit through the metal detector but he didn't even use a wand or pat me down. I could have brought anything on board.We get to the next guy who is just about yelling at us that we need to go back and wait. We do and the security check point guy tells us to go ahead again. Then the other guy in a slightly less aggressive tone explained that it is their policy to have someone who is certified (whatever that means) escort any disabled person on to the ship. Didn't have a problem with that.
So this guy comes up and decides he is going to just start pushing my wheelchair. Not cool! We would not let him so they just had him follow us on to the ship. If this "certified" person had actually had any training when it came to dealing with the disabled he would have known better than to just start pushing. He would have asked me or at least told me what he was going to do.
Anyway, we did not let this ruin our evening. We were able to get into a restaurant and have a nice dinner at least.
I plan on writing a letter to their corporate offices. I don't know if it will do any good but it will be brought to their attention. The ship is registered in Panama so there is a loophole where they are not legally held to the standards of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Even though this is true most cruise ships comply with it anyway.
This whole experience made me wonder how many other people have gone through similar situations. Or even how many other people have hesitated or not even tried going places because of fear of similar situations. Why not start a web page of what places are accessible and workplaces are not in West Palm Beach? Could even expand to South Florida and beyond that have other people write reviews of places in other cities. Going to look into that.
We were told about three times that it was accessible by three different people spoken to on the telephone. I was told once and my mother was told at least once when she called to order the tickets (her credit card).
We get on the ship and immediately look for the elevator so we can find something to eat. We find the elevator and I use the term elevator loosely. I would say the measurements of the elevator were only 3 feet by 3 feet, if that. I have a rather wide chair but the width wasn't the issue. I went into the elevator straight and the back of my chair was sticking out by about six inches.
Luckily we discovered this with about 10 minutes to spare before the ship was to leave the
port. We got off of the ship and were able to get a discount. This still didn't compensate for the wasted evening. We would have made different plans if we would have known.When we went to the front desk on the ship they were not one bit apologetic about the situation. I realized there was nothing they could do about the situation at that moment in time but their attitude was almost like oh well.
The only person who really did their job appropriately was the girl at the registration desk before you get on the ship. She was very courteous and apologetic afterwords. I need to start being more observant as to the names of people who are helpful and those who are extraordinarily unhelpful or rude. That way when I write to companies with complaints I can give credit where credit is due and lay blame where where it belongs.And this is not to mention the way things were handled getting on the ship. Every line you have to go through on the way to the ship is a zigzag which is not very easy with a wheelchair. There were a handful of people who were helpful but everyone else seemed oblivious.
When we get to the security checkpoint they guy just waves me and my father who is pushing my chair through the line. I obviously couldn't fit through the metal detector but he didn't even use a wand or pat me down. I could have brought anything on board.We get to the next guy who is just about yelling at us that we need to go back and wait. We do and the security check point guy tells us to go ahead again. Then the other guy in a slightly less aggressive tone explained that it is their policy to have someone who is certified (whatever that means) escort any disabled person on to the ship. Didn't have a problem with that.
So this guy comes up and decides he is going to just start pushing my wheelchair. Not cool! We would not let him so they just had him follow us on to the ship. If this "certified" person had actually had any training when it came to dealing with the disabled he would have known better than to just start pushing. He would have asked me or at least told me what he was going to do.
Anyway, we did not let this ruin our evening. We were able to get into a restaurant and have a nice dinner at least.
I plan on writing a letter to their corporate offices. I don't know if it will do any good but it will be brought to their attention. The ship is registered in Panama so there is a loophole where they are not legally held to the standards of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Even though this is true most cruise ships comply with it anyway.
This whole experience made me wonder how many other people have gone through similar situations. Or even how many other people have hesitated or not even tried going places because of fear of similar situations. Why not start a web page of what places are accessible and workplaces are not in West Palm Beach? Could even expand to South Florida and beyond that have other people write reviews of places in other cities. Going to look into that.
posted by Dwight at Tuesday, July 05, 2005
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